[urq] Scary night update

[AUDIJIM at aol.com]

OK, I spent some time under the car this evening. It looks like the A/C 
compressor seized and when it did, the entire front of the magnetic clutch was 
broken off and hanging on the shaft. I drove about 45 miles like that. This sucks 
because it was working great and the system was very tight (leak free). But 
I'm sure it was the original A/C compressor and it has (just like many other 
parts on the car) over 282,000 miles on it now. I have never charged the system 
since I owned the car. Removed belt. I will deal with that later.

As per one lister suggested, I inspected the tires and found nothing wrong 
with them. Tire pressure is where I inflated them to about a week ago. No signs 
of broke internal belts or side wall bubbles. The tires are Toyo Proxes TPT 
fitted on Fuchs. They are only a few months old with only highway miles on them. 
I know that means nothing, but I thought I would mention it. I will rotate 
the tires (wheels) front to rear and test drive. It seems like this car does 
goofy things in the wet. Since it is dry now, I'm sure it will drive like it did 
before I drove it home from DC yesterday.

The lower control arm assembles are fine. No excessive movement when prying 
on them with a pry bar with the car off the ground. I have a torn CV boot on 
the left outer joint. With the car in the air, and holding the wheel at 3 an 9, 
I tried moving the wheel to check play, I do not get any play from the ball 
joints or the tie rod ends. Holding the wheel at 12 and 6, same outcome. The 
sway bar mounts at the front of the sub frame and at the control arms are OK.

So at this point, I need to find a good A/C compressor with mag clutch and I 
think I will splurge on some new axles just because I don't remember ever 
changing them.

Let me also note that yesterday, when the car was shaking and acting like the 
wheel was going to fall off, the car was hard to keep in the lane (this is 
where the pucker factor was at full force) as if the alignment changed when I 
was on the gas. Also, there was no change in the condition when I locked the 
center or rear diffs. But in an instant, everything was fine, like nothing 
happened. It just started to happen more often and for longer periods of time as the 
trip progressed. The worst was when I was driving with everything going good, 
and a tractor trailer passed me, and then my steering would act up and the 
car wanted to swerve until I let off the gas.

Jim Furdyn
1983 UrQuattro #170 
1987 4000cs Q
1987 Euro 200/5000cs TQ 282,000 miles
1996 A6 Quattro Avant 
1987 Mercedes Benz Truck model 1219